of women would like to emulate them.nIn effect, then, the Brooke Shields adnholds her up as such a model. She isndecidedly not a 15-year-old here, fornwhat adult woman would take the advicenof a 15-year-old about anything othernthan the efficacy of an acne medication.”nThere is something not quite rightnin a society that increasingly turns itsnattention to children and, in doing so,nrobs the children of whatever innocencenor childishness (i.e. being like a childnin a positive sense: eager, fresh, vigorous)nthey have. Statistics show that drugnabuse, sexual activity and crime are allnup in the lower age groups. Apparently,nit’s pretty tough these days just beingna normal, all-round kid, worried aboutnhomework assignments and cutting thenlawn (getting out of doing both, that is),nnot about being old beyond one’s years.nvJrowing up these days is quite likengrowing up in France in the 1920’s andn30’s, at least if you were Maurice Girodias.nGirodias is the founder of OlympianPress, the publishing house in the skinntrade that admittedly did publish somenoutstanding authors (Beckett, Nabokov),njust as his father’s Obelisk Pressndid (Durrell). These presses are callednavant-garde. With a few exceptions,nsuch as those noted, sleazy is a morenprecise term for the presses.nGirodias’s autobiography. The FrognPrince, is a book that looks as decadentnas one might expect: it brings whips andnchains to mind. The dust jacket is blacknwith silver artwork and lettering. Thenbook continues the motif: it is blacknwith a silver-foil spine, the only spinenof that type I’ve ever seen. Perhaps Ingo to the wrong libraries.nIn the prologue Girodias admits thatnthe only reason he wrote the book wasnfor money. At least he is up front aboutnit. Then he breaks into gibberish. Thenfollowing is representative:nThe divine Eros is the motor of thencontinuum, whether the Vatican likesnit or not; and it’s He who writes thenstory of our world, not the Holy Fa­n28inChronicles of Cultorenther. The tribulations of Eros in ourntime have occupied my entire life, andnmy father’s life before mine. Our twonstories therefore appear as only onenin the continuum, my life being nothingnbut an intensified repetition ofnhis own. Just as it took generationsnof mountain climbers to conquernEverest, it took a dedicated team ofnspecialists, father and son, to triggernthe sexual revolution.nAnd there are only 404 pages left tongo. But stay. An easily overlooked sentencenon the flashy dust jacket saysnthat The Frog Prince is just the firstnpart of a three-part autobiography.nIn this work, Girodias doesn’t getnfar beyond puberty. However, that’s notneasy to ascertain as he is a premiernkiddycultist. You’d swear that youngnMaurice is the senior Maurice. Thenchild may be the father of the man, butnthis is absolutely ridiculous. Girodiasnuses the blurring technique: he is verynstingy with dates and ages, so one isnoften reduced to performing additionnl hi- Hpochti/niMfcniion.i .Si.- /vV.vnOne .K. .Alciiindrii I’cnnt-v. di’scribi-dnin a ,’fii ) i.iri- V.’Wi’..’ linai- Rfi/iii adn;=^ an “fdiror iind jmirnalisi whose arli-n^•U•^ iippciu’ lai]iii-nilv in VAr .Vi w Yurii’inu..^n.•Ui;^’..:/wr . . . I’c.i,’//!’. . . CHinninirn. . . Ilnr/ur’: /}..•:.,!.’>•. . . “has publishedn.; book eniilleJ Hnu In SXaic l.rn, la ,;n.]iiK. We naivelv rhoujihr that prohleninhad been .soKed Ma’ording to evuiuntionisis. when the S|’eiie;i emerged Ironinthe waters and settled on dr surfaces:naccordini; to creationists. ihrouHh thenexperiments ol le and I’otiphar’s wife:nacconling to classici.sls. jiy I lelen olnI’rov. Obiouslv we iindeiestimated thenAmerican abihiy to loruet iliat the wlieelnhad already been inveiiled. >’el. afternixarnininj; Ms. Penneys picture, whichnLIBERAL CULTUREnnnand subtraction in trying to figure outnhow old he is at any given time. The rensuits are hard to believe. He feels an”total refusal and rejection of the false,ncheap, and criminal society in which wenwere born,” so his reaction is “Alienation!nAnarchy! Let fly the black flag!”nHe’s 11 years old. At age 14, much happens.nHis father (“the only education Inever received from him had to do exclusivelynwith the appreciation of women”)nis a “little anxious” about the way Mauricenkisses the hands of the countessesnto whom he introduces his son. Surenenough, father and son fall in love withnthe same woman. Shades of My Son,nMy Son. Later that year, “a large voluptuousnwoman of about thirty” worksnherself into a “romantic passion” overnour 14-year-old hero. He dismisses hernbecause she is a “blooming bourgeoise.”nMaurice is still alienated, indeed, “evennmore at odds with the system, withnwhatever it was that made those peoplentick.” His father doesn’t try to set thenboy straight, rather^ he treats the 14-nadorns the ad, anil noticing the awesomenmenial power reveali-d in the titles ofnchapters: “What’s the Hig OifferencenIJeiween Men and Woiiien-‘”or”On Agngressieness How to Oct Wliat YounWant Sexually Without Seeming Pushynor L’nleiTiinine” we have littU’ doubtnthai her manual will .sell well in hardnware sti ires. i-.in